Updated 2:10 pm, Thursday, February 21, 2013

A suspect has been arrested in the death of a 51-year-old man who was apparently beaten with a baseball bat and then hit by a car as he laid in the street just northeast of downtown earlier this month.

Police said officers were dispatched on an emergency call about a man who had been hit by a car. When they arrived, they found the victim, later identified Salazar, lying in the street. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver had stopped after hitting Salazar and called 911.

Police said investigators believe Salazar had been assaulted before the car hit him. Witnesses told investigators they saw a man, later identified as Vasquez-Martinez, carrying a baseball bat as he left the scene.

Investigators later determined Vasquez-Martinez and Salazar had a confrontation in the yard of a nearby abandoned house where Vasquez-Martinez was staying.

Vasquez-Martinez may have been defending himself during the confrontation. However, police said, he beat Salazar with a baseball bat. He then chased Salazar into the street and hit him with the bat again.